Comment on Gavers Community Barndance to celebrate 20 years raising funds for cancer

When cancer survivor Steve Gavers started his namesake barndance in 2000, he wanted to have a good time while raising money for cancer research and education. The goal was to have 300 people show up and raise $10,000. However, the event had 923 people attend and raised $125,000, said Denise Ponstein, vice president of Gavers Community Cancer Foundation. The event has been growing ever since. To date, it has raised $7.8 million, and Ponstein said it’s expected to pass the $8 million mark this year as the event reaches its 20-year milestone. The money the foundation has raised has gone to many organizations, including Northwestern Medicine, Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund at Rush University Medical Center, Family Health Partnership Clinic, Lurie Children’s Hospital and the Testicular Cancer Foundation, Ponstein said. “Our patients have benefited from the Gavers Barndance for 20 years because many of its proceeds have gone toward health care right here in our community,” Sarah Theriault, director of the Northwestern Memorial Foundation, said in a statement. One of those beneficiaries is Sherri Sahs-Valencic, a longtime barndance attendee, former Woodstock resident and cancer survivor. Barndance brings people together to help those who are battling cancer, said Sahs-Valencic, 58. Her battle began with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at the age of 15, for which she underwent chemotherapy and radiation.